A gas turbine engine includes combustors that introduce and/or ignite fuel within the gas turbine engine. In a gas turbine engine, the burning fuel contributes to a high temperature gas flow to create mechanical power. In a gas turbine engine, turbine rotor blades are driven at least in part by the high temperature gas flow and drive a compressor and, optionally, an electric generator to generate mechanical and/or electrical power.
The temperature within a combustor is often very high. Combustors are often internally lined with panels to protect the combustor from these high temperatures. However, such panels are typically made of metal and often crack due to thermal mechanical fatigue. While metal provides for strong fasteners to retain the combustor panel in place, such metal is often subject to cracking due to thermal mechanical fatigue, permitting portions of the panel to be liberated and to collide downstream with other turbine engine structures such as with turbine blades or with stator vanes.